Blowing Smoke

Muzzleloader Season 2024 is underway, and I’ve been seeing many success stories. This period of cooler weather has had the whitetails on their feet filling their bellies from the tons of post-Milton acorns covering the forest floor. The season lasts until November 1st when the general gun season opens. However, you can still use your old smoke pole right on through the season, the same as you can with archery.

Muzzleloaders are antiquated weapons; although there are varieties with lots of more modern features, they are still muzzleloaders. Unlike modern firearms, muzzleloaders do not require cartridges. These old-style weapons still have to be loaded by pouring the propellent (either black powder or a Pyrodex variant) and the bullet separately down the barrel and packed in place by a ramrod. Being loaded via the muzzle…. Kind of explains the name, right?

But, often, you’ll hear us old-timers refer to them as a smoke-pole. That’s because upon firing the weapon, it will blow a huge cloud of smoke from the muzzle as the bullet flies to its intended target. Loading them is a slow and meticulous chore, and cleaning them afterward can be a real pain in the neck, but they sure are one heck of a lot of fun to shoot … even more so to hunt with.

In Florida, to hunt deer with a muzzleloader, it has to be .30 caliber or larger, and if it’s a shotgun firing two or more projectiles, it has to be 20 gauge or more significant. I have no experience with muzzleloading shotguns, but I got my first muzzleloading rifle, too many years ago when I was just fifteen. But I was well into my twenties before I ever killed my first buck with one. I can still feel the adrenaline-fueled anxiety while waiting for all of the smoke to clear. Those several seconds were torture, and I had to wait to see if I even hit the deer. What a feeling of relief when I was again able to see that buck lying there waiting on me to drag him out.

David Criswell, from our northeastern region along the old Withlacoochee swamp bottoms, knows that feeling. He’s a bona fide muzzleloader expert and puts some impressive deer on his skinning rack each year. In fact, I recently received a photo from Dave posing with a beautiful eight-point swamp buck he invited home with his muzzleloader. But then, Dave has a reputation of bringing big bucks home, regard of which weapon he’s employing. I’ve known the man for over thirty years and if our state wildlife commission ever opens a rock season, my money would be on David to be the first one back at the skinning rack!

If you have any questions or comments or maybe have a story of your own to share, reach out to me at [email protected]. God Bless, and good hunting!

Toby Benoit is a best selling novelist and professional outdoors-man with thirty-five years of experience guiding and outfitting for big game all across America. Toby is a renowned archer and turkey hunting expert who manufactures custom game calls and is a regular judge at NWTF sanctioned turkey calling events across the Southeast.